Home (a McRoll in the REAL World story)
by sammy1026
Summary: Catherine's reserve duty ends and she heads home.


_Mari & Ilna- you guys are the absolute best. Thanks for EVERYTHING! There are no two people I'd rather be on this ride with._

 _Sandy-what would I do without you?_

 _REAL Worlders-I can never fully express what all your amazing support means to me. All I can say is that in our fourth calendar year your support and encouragement keeps me as enthusiastic as I was about this project day one._

 **It's coming, REAL McRollers! The fourth annual McRoll in the REAL World Thanksgiving** **Marathon** **. We'll post a story a day from** **November 20th** **through 27th! We hope you join us!**

* * *

 **Home (1/1)**

"Thanks again for letting us stay here," Mary said as she pulled a stack of plates from the cupboard. "I know Steve and Catherine both said it would be fine for us to stay there but with Catherine just getting back from reserve duty tonight we figured they might want a little alone time as a family."

"It's no problem at all," Elizabeth placed her hand on Mary's arm and waited until their eyes met. "You're family. We want you to think of this as home. You're welcome here anytime. We've been looking forward to this for weeks."

Mary beamed. "Thanks. But you may want to rethink that after you hear all the things on Joan's to do list with you guys this week."

Elizabeth placed the last raw hamburger patty on a plate, added a few hotdogs, and prepared to deliver to them Joseph at the grill. "I can't wait."

As the two women headed for the back porch Mary added, "Of course, if she gets a chance to spend time with baby Angie she'll toss the rest of aside in a heartbeat."

* * *

Steve snapped a picture of the scene in front of him. He knew the moment would be broken as soon as Cammie sensed Catherine was near and wanted her to have a chance to see what he'd been watching for the last five minutes.

Angie was in her carrier on the living room coffee table. Cammie was seated directly in front with her head resting peacefully on Angie's stomach.

He'd been almost afraid to pull out his phone for fear the motion would cause Cammie to move. Luckily it didn't.

He texted the picture to Catherine along with the message, 'Waiting patiently for Mommy to get home.'

' _OMG! That may be our Christmas card,'_ came the immediate reply. _'I'm leaving base now. I'll be there soon.'_

Steve snapped another picture, this time including himself in the shot, and typed, 'We can't wait to see you!'

* * *

"And I wanna build a sandcastle, and swim in the ocean, and read wots of books … I mean _lots_ of books," Joan enunciated the l-sound carefully. "And colow pictures for youw frigewator, and Uncle Steve and Ann Caf's … "

Aaron chuckled to himself. The r-sounds were still a work in progress.

"You have a full week planned, don't you, peanut?" Mary smiled at her daughter who was perched contentedly on Grandma Ang's lap.

Aunt Deb sat in a chair at the far end of the patio taking in the happy family scene, thoroughly enjoying watching her niece interact with her large, loving, extended family. It meant the world to her to be included. She was feeling better than she had in a long time and when the chance to spend a week on the island arose she jumped at it.

"And we'we gonna have tuwkey!" Joan added excitedly.

"And pumpkin pie!" Aaron egged her on.

She threw her hands excitedly in the air. "And stuffing!"

"And green beans," Mary chimed in.

Joan wrinkled her nose and shook her head adamantly. "No gween beans."

Mary looked at Elizabeth and sighed. "Vegetables have become a bit of an issue lately. I have no idea why."

"It's a phase," Elizabeth assured her. "It'll pass."

"I tried hiding corn in her potatoes when she was at my house for dinner last week, but she was too clever for me." Deb winked at Joan. "She figured it out."

"Did you know baby Angie has started eating vegetables?" Elizabeth asked breezily.

"Yes, I heard that." Deb nodded theatrically.

"She has?" Joan asked, clearly intrigued by the news.

"Yes, she loves peas," Grandma Ang said. "She ate every bite the other night when she was here for dinner."

Joan looked at Joseph, then Elizabeth. Both nodded in the affirmative.

"Can I have peas?" she asked eagerly then added, "Please," at the look on Mary's face.

"I think I have some in the freezer," Elizabeth offered. "Would you like to help me make them?"

"Yes!" Joan slid off Ang's lap and ran towards the door to the house.

Elizabeth took her hand and the two of them disappeared inside.

"I never even thought to play the Angie card." Mary shook her head and chuckled. "We've been having trouble getting her to eat vegetables for weeks. It's always a fight."

"You learn little tricks like that as you go," Grandma Ang smiled.

Aaron took the stack of plates from Mary and began to set the table. "Did Elizabeth ever give you problems about eating vegetables?"

Ang smiled softly at the memory. "We went through an entire month where all she wanted to eat was mashed potatoes. Every meal was a showdown trying to get her to eat a few bites of anything else."

"What did you do?" Mary asked.

"I finally gave in." Ang shrugged. "Served her nothing but mashed potatoes. Didn't even put anything else on her plate. No more begging. No more fighting. A few days later we were having pork chops and she asked for one. That was it."

Mary chuckled. "It's hard to picture Elizabeth ever being a disobedient child."

Ang reached out and took Mary's hand. "They're all disobedient sometimes. They go through phases. When you're in the middle of it it can be maddening but someday you'll look back and laugh. I promise."

* * *

As Catherine hurried up the sidewalk to the door of the beach house it burst open and she saw Steve, large smile firmly in place, holding a happy, cooing Angie. Cammie, excited that one of her favorite humans was home darted passed Steve's legs and made a beeline for Catherine, woofing excitedly.

"There's my pretty girl." Catherine bent quickly and hugged the excited dog. "I missed you. Did you take good care of everything while I was away?"

As if she understood the question Cammie gave one last puppy kiss then returned to sit beside Steve and Angie proudly as if to say, "I did. Look! Here they are!"

Catherine stood and leaned in to kiss Steve as she took Angie from his arms. "There's my baby girl. It is so good to see you." She waggled her eyebrows at Steve. "You too, Commander."

"I've been counting the minutes," he beamed as he went up the walk to retrieve Cath's duffel bag before the happy family of four made their way into the house.

"She hasn't eaten yet because I knew you'd want to feed her," he said. "The peas have been going well but I got some squash in case you wanted to try something different. Dr. Hiyora said we could introduce something new every few days, right?"

"Right," Catherine nodded, her eyes still firmly trained on the happy infant in her arms. "Do you like peas?" she asked in a sing song voice. "Or do you wanna try some yummy squash?"

Angie flailed her arms happily. "Ahhh Ahhhhhhh."

"I think she's saying squash," Catherine grinned.

"Then squash it is," Steve agreed as they headed for the kitchen.

As she crossed the threshold Catherine was greeted by a glorious, and familiar, aroma. She inhaled deeply. "That's not squash I smell."

"I made lasagna for us for later," he reported as he pulled Angie's high chair beside the island.

Catherine was reluctant to let go of her daughter but could tell by the way she was stuffing her hand in her mouth she was hungry, so she placed her in the high chair. "Sounds heavenly. The food on reserve duty is definitely better than in the field but it still leaves something to be desired."

"I got some of that crusty bread you like too."

Catherine placed a bib around Angie's neck. "My hero," she teased.

They chatted about everything and anything as they fed Angie, enjoyed a slightly longer than normal tummy time session, then prepared for bed. Catherine marveled at how everything was so familiar, so normal, and yet so extraordinary at the same time.

She treasured Steve and Angie, and the life they were building, every single day but having been away for a time, even just across the island, had given her a deeper level of appreciation she hadn't thought possible.

As they lay side by side in bed later that night watching their daughter sleep she couldn't bring herself to turn off the light. She wanted just a few more minutes of watching the peaceful look on her daughter's face, Steve by her side and Cammie asleep on her bed in the corner.

"She's gonna be thrilled when she wakes up during the night and you're here," Steve said softly.

"I'm gonna be thrilled too," she smiled.

She took one last long look at Angie then turned to Steve with a seductive grin. "Hi, sailor. I've missed you."

"Right back at ya, lieutenant." He waggled his eyebrows.

"The other day in the mess hall I just wanted to grab you and kiss you senseless," she purred.

"Stupid regs." His voice was low and gravelly.

She slid her hand up his thigh. "I agree." She nipped at his jaw. "But there are no regs here."

He opened his mouth to speak but was temporarily unable too as her hand continued its trek upward.

"What do say we make up for lost time?" she said as she straddled him.

"As always," he growled, "I like the way you think."

 **THE END**

* * *

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